Relief well must hit target smaller than dartboard

by Jeffrey Collins - Aug. 10, 2010 12:00 AMAssociated Press

NEW ORLEANS - The relief well being drilled to ensure crude never again spills into the ocean from BP's paralyzed well in the Gulf of Mexico has been dubbed the ultimate solution to the drama that has unfolded over the past three months.

It's the final, suspenseful act as one man guides a drill more than 2 miles beneath the sea floor and 3 miles from the surface, trying to hit a target less than half the size of a dartboard. The drill is about as wide as a grapefruit, and the target now lies less than 100 feet away.

If John Wright misses, BP engineers will pull the drill bit up, pour concrete in the off-track hole and try again. Wright is 40 for 40, though, having helped cap wells across the world in four decades of work. And he seemed confident in a June video put out by BP that he could make it 41 for 41.

"Out of 40 relief wells that I've drilled, we've never missed yet," Wright said. "I've got high confidence we will take care of this problem as soon as we can get there."

Work began last weekend to finish drilling the well, and company and government officials say they could hit their target as early as Friday. If it hits, engineers will perform a "bottom kill" by pouring in mud and cement to permanently seal the blown-out well that has spewed an estimated 207 million gallons since April.

A "static kill" last week pushed mud and cement into the top of the crippled well, leaving very little chance oil could leak into the Gulf again, said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point man overseeing the cleanup operation. On Monday, BP announced that it has spent $6.1 billion responding to the spill since the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon killed 11 workers, sending the rig to the bottom of the sea and oil spewing 5,000 feet underwater.